1.   I had to strain to hear.

2.   Carrington had to strain to hear him.

3.   I am sitting in the darkness, straining to hear my tutor on the phone in the dining-room on the other side of the hall.

4.   As one, the six typewriters began clacking again, not perhaps quite so loudly as their operators strained to hear the rest of the conversation.

5.   The TV commentator was excitedly describing the drama, but although she strained to hear she could not pick out the name of the victim.

6.   As he strained to hear the orders over the racket of war in the background, he also listened to what the youths had to say.

7.   Bidders crowded around the perimeter, straining to hear the weak sound system over the din.

8.   A listener strained to hear.

9.   But we must have, because sometimes I find myself straining to hear his voice.

10.   During his testimony, Lorenzo Branch spoke so softly that many people in the packed courtroom strained to hear.